Apparatus for separating unfilterable material from a mixture of filterable and unfilterable matter.



c, w'. MERRILL. unnumm MATERIAL mom A MIXTURE AND UNFILTERABLE mum.AFPLICATHJN FILED JUNE L HHO- RENEWED FEE. I6, 1911- PatentedMay15,1917.

1,226,103 I a SHETSSHEET n.

APPARATUS FQR SEPARATING 0F FILTERABLE Sm) QTVbO/V.

C. W. MERRILL. APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING UNHLTERABLE MATERIAL mom A MIXTUAND UNFILTERABLE MATTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, I910- RENEWED FEB- 16. 1911- I Patented May15, 1917.

I a SHEETS-SHEET 2.

BE 0F HLTERABLE c. w. MERRILL APPARATUS FOR SEPARATINGUNFILTERABLEMATERIAL FROM A MIXTURE 0F FILTERABLE AND UNFILTERABLEMATTER.

APPLICATION FILED mu: 7.1910. RENEWED FEB. 16.1911.

Patented May 15, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- 514v enbon/ UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES w. MERRILL, or BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING UNFILTEBABLE MATERIAL FROM A MIXTURE 0FFILTERABLE AND UN FILTERABLE MATTER.

Application filed June 7, 1910, Serial No. 565,545.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. MERRILL, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and resident of Berkeley, Alameda county, State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forSeparating Unfilterable hIaterial from a Mixture of Filterable andUnfilterable Matter, of which the following is. a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for separatingunfilterable material from a mixture of filter-able and unfilterablematter. It particularly relates to improvements in pressure filters inwhich the precipitation and collection of material fromhydrometallurgical solutions and the treatment of such material iseffected. In Letters Patent No. 900,186, granted to me by the UnitedStates Patent Oflice on October 6, 1908, I described and claimed animproved process of precipitating materials from solution, andparticularly metals from hydro-metallurgical solutions, and in. LettersPatent No.. 900,185, also granted to me by the United States PatentOffice on Octoher 6, 1908, I have described and claimed an apparatus inwhich the aforesaid process can be commercially carried out. Theprincipal object of the present invention is to, overcome certaindisadvantages which are found to exist in practice, in conducting theprocess aforesaid in the apparatus described and claimed in LettersPatent No. 900,185;

In the above specifications, the advantages of maintaining reducingconditions throughoutthe precipitation and collection of precipitate aredescribed and the said process specifications provide for themaintenance of these reducing conditions up to the time that the mixtureof solution precipitant and precipitate is delivered to the inletchannel of the pressure filter described and claimed as above.

Now the mechanical defects which have developed in the above apparatusare first that the flow of the mixture through some at least of thecores within the sidewalls of the containers sometimes becomes impededthus preventing the delivery of a supply of mixture adequate at alltimes to keep the container filled during the operation of the filterpress; second, some mixtures filter so freely that the bottom dischargeof the filtrate results in the press not being kept Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented May 15, 1917.

Renewed February 16, 1917. Serial No. 149,146.

full of the mixture of filterablc and unfilterable matter; third, it isnot always possible in the practical. operation of reduction works todeliver to the filter press continuously a sufli'cient feed of themixture of filterable and unfilterable material to keep it full, and,fourth, when the filter press is not in use the practical difficulty ofpreventing the discharge cocks from leaking results in at least aportion of the liquid filterable portion draining out. above mechanicaldefects is that oxygen of the atmosphere occupies the space that shouldbe filled with the mixture or its filter-able component, and the effectof the contact offthe oxygen with the mixture or its unfilterablecomponent is to oxidize the precipitate and precipitant contained in thepress and thus decrease the efficiency of precipitation a'nd increasethe cost of precipitation, as that portion of the latter which isoxidized is unavailable for further precipitation.

Now, I have discovered that when, instead of the ducts leading from aport within each container and preferably located at the bottom thereof,to a horizontal feed channel located above the outlet, and preferably inan upper corner of the container, as described in said Letters PatentNo. 900,186, a pipe or an independent .duct, preferably composedessentially of non-metallic material which is also non-conducting,

as to galvanic action, is employed leading downward from the feedchannel into the bottom ofthe converging container and adjacent thereto,and an open top discharge, as distinguished from a bottom discharge, isemployed in combination therewith, all of the difficulties abovereferred to are minimized and the results of the process described inLetters Patent 900,185, when carried out in this apparatus, are moresatisfactory.

The type of filter press forming the subject of the present invention iswhat is known as an open top delivery and closed. bottom drain press,and will be best understood by a reference to the accompanying threesheets of drawings, of which;.;Figure 1 shows a side elevation ofthepress with the filter plates and containers assembled therein; Fig. 2 isa front end elevation of the press; Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of thecontainers; Fi 4 is a vertical elevation of the same; F1gs..5 and 6 areelevations, Fig. 7 a detail, and Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of afilter plate; Fig. 9 is a detail view showing a modified form of filterplate. V

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.-

General charactewlstica-Jn Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, 8- representswhat is for convenience termed the stationary end of the press; it theside bar of the press; j is a screw carrying a distance piece j whichforces the movable end or follower head 2? forward in the side bars bymeans of the Wheels 2' or any other convenient mechanism w w are theexterior frames of a series of containers, and g g are the filterplates, and I: is the rear stationary end of the press. All of thesedevices and parts are common to the ordinary form of filter press. Theseelements when set up compose the filter press substantially as shown inFigs. 1 and 2. For convenience the different parts of the apparatus willbe described separately.

The filter pZates.The filter plates are preferably of the type ofconstruction as shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 8 which show the form of filterplate adapted to be used in connection with the forms of containerhereinafter described. Each filter plate is provided with an opening 01through which the material to be filtered is introduced, which channelor inlet is of the same general character as'that in the containers andbecomes continuous whenthe various parts are put together in the filterpress. Each filter plate may be and ordinarily is provided with anopening a through which the liquids, vapors or gases pass for anytreatment of the unfilterable material after its collection in thepress, and which, with the corresponding openings in the containershereinafter described, when placed together in the filter press, make acontinuous channel. Each alternate filter plate is provided with a porta as shown in Figs. 5 and 7 through which the liquids, vapors or gasesfrom the channel or inlet a may be introduced behind the filter clothsof each such alternate filter plate. The surfaces of the filter platesare provided, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 and 8, with any convenientarrangement of grooves or corrugations, prefera ly the arrangementdcscribed and claimed by me in Letters Patent of the United States No.912,867. A drain age opening y is provided in the bottom of the filterplate which becomes a continuous channel when the plates and containersare assembled in the press.-

8 8 are the outlets-in each of the filter plates, as shown in Figs. 5, 6and 8 which are provided for the eflluent liquids, vapors or gases. Theyterminate in each case in a boss 9, to which are fastened stop cocks p,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, controlled by the handles 1', which dischargeinto a trough '0 of suitable dimensions. In each case all represents theinlet through which the mixture of solid and semi-solid or unfilterablematerial with liquid is introduced. In practice the openings 8 and 9will be placed, the former at or near the top, and the latter at or nearthe bottom of the filter plate, as shown in the drawings, but theirprecise location is no part-of the present invention. There is adrainage port 9 from each alternate plate into the channel 1 as it isonly necessary to have an opening behind the cloths which form theclosure on the one side of a container in order to properly drain suchcontainer.

00ntainers.The type of container employed in the constructions shown isshown in Fig. 3. 50 at are the exterior frames of the containers. Thesefit into the frame of the press between the filter plates as shown inFigs. 1 and 2. d is the horizontal feed channel located in the center atthe top of the container through which the mixture of filterable and nonfilterable component is introduced into the press. a is an inlet throughwhich liquids, vapors or gases may be introduced behind the. filtercloths. When a series of containers is put together in a filter press,the openings a, d and y make three,

continuous openings or channels through the press which are closed atthe end in any convement manner.

Instead of ducts within the side walls of the containers which are usedin certain of the forms of containers which I have hitherto employed, Iemploy in the present case an independent removable duct of any suitablematerial, preferably a non-metallic material which is non-conducting asto galvanic action which leads downward from the feed channel d into thebottom of the container and terminates adjacent thereto.

The object of substituting a non-metallic material for the form and ductwhich I have hitherto employed is to prevent the precipitant fromforming on the surface of the interior of the duct and clogging the ductand preventing the subsequent free passage of the mixture. The metalliczinc in suspension in the solution to be treated in the press, incontact with the iron of the duct, exerts a galvanic action, causingchanges in the chemical contents of the solution to take place, and theprecipitation of a cementing material therefrom, which builds up in theinterior of the iron pipe and chokes it. The duct f preferably composedof hose and a pipe nipple f is removable and fits into a suitable screwthread opening in the channel d and may be of any definite size, and inpractice any number of these pipes may be kept in stock for use inconnection with any one filter, and hence when they become choked orstopped up they may be readily removed and another pipe inserted for usewhile those pressvdoes not have to be keptout of service and forwardjmore convenient subsequent removal of into the feed channel (2. vaporemployed is fed into the channel a for an unnecessarily long time.

In practice, the duct f is screwed into that part of the upper wall ofthe container which forms the bottom of the feed channel (5 in themanner shown in Fig. 3, but any desir able method for connecting up thepipe duct with the feed channel may be employed.

. The channel y, Fig. 1, terminates in, a pipe g closed by the valve 3by opening Which the liquid portion of the contents of the containersare drained or forced out for the the solid portion of the contents. Thetrough v discharges through av duct m tl'lrough a pipe into a suitablereceiving tank.

Themixture of filterable and unfilterable material is charged underpressure through the pipe 6, controlled by the inlet cock 6 a Theliquid, gas or through the pipe 0, controlled by the valve (1', as shownin Figs. 1 and 2. In order to permit the discharge of any gas which maybe formed in the pressat any time, a vent u provided with thecock athrough which such gases may escape through the channel a with whichthis ventis directly connected. When it is desired to permit the escapeof such gases, the valve 0 is closed and the valve u is opened.

For the purpose of moving the follower head the hand wheel .2 isprovided, as shown in Fig. 1. By turning this hand-wheel thefollower-head t is caused to slide backward upon the frame it which issometimes desirable in very large presses.

The treatment channel a opens through the ports a to the filteringsurface behind theclothsof alternate plates, being in alterno inlet forliquid,

container.

nate series with the plates having drainagev ports at the bottom,

so that when the plates are put together in the press there will be adrainage opening from each plate which has vapor or gas, and there willbe no drainage outlet fromthose plates which have the openings, as it isonly necessary to have an opening behind the cloths which form containerin order to properly drain the vital may The treatment channel a is nota factor or element of th1s lnventlon, and

6 e entirely omitted in cases where it is not desired to treat theunfilterable material after its collection in the press; or when used itmay be located Wherever desired.

Copies of containers converging provided from a feed venient size andthe closure on one side of the I claim as my 'invention:; a 1. Thecombination in'a pressure filter of a series of suitable filter plates,one or more each provided With a feedchannel located above the bottom ofthe container and terminating'within the same adjacent to said bottom,and a suitable outlet through the upper portion of the side wall of eachfilter plate wherebythe filtrate is discharged by means of a suitabledelivery.

toward the bottom, a i duct leading from a 2. A container for use inapressure filterprovided with a non-metallic duct of con-,

venient size and suitablematerial, leading the bot-v from afeed channellocated above tom of the container and terminating-within the same at ornear saidbottom.

3. A container for use in a pressure filter provided with a removablenon-metallic duct of convenient size and suitable material, leading froma feed channel located above the bottom of the containerand terminatingwithin the bottom. v

4. A container for use in a pressure filter provided with a non-metallicremovable same at or near said i duct of convenient size and made0f-si1itable material, leadingfrom a feed channel located above thebottom of the container, and terminating within the same at or near thebottom thereof, and devices substantially as described for attaching theduct to the feed channel. r l

5. A container for use me pressure filter with a non-metallic duct ofco'nvenient size and suitable material, leading the same at nected withable manner.

channel locatedabove the bot: tom of the container andterminating'within a 6. A container for use in a pressure .filter vprovided with a suitable" material, leading from a feed channel locatedabove, the bottom of the container and-terminating'within the same at ornear nected with said feed a suitable screw device.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name in n this twenty-sixth presence of two witnesses, day of May1910.

non-metallic duct of iconsaid bottom and conchannel by means of aCHARLES W. MERR LL.

Witnesses:

, WILLARD PARKER BUTLER, ,CHARLES ENeEn.

this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing theCommissioner of Patents,

Washington,D. G. A I i 3

